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Hot Desert Microbiology: Perspectives in a Warming World

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Microbiology of Hot Deserts

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 244))

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Abstract

Deserts are the most dominant terrestrial environments as they cover over a third of the Earth’s emerged surface. These arid ecosystems further influence global biogeochemical cycling particularly via the emission of dust. These dust clouds can travel thousands of kilometers and fertilize very distant environments as well as intensify global warming. This is concerning as desert surfaces are expanding with climate change. This concluding chapter therefore briefly discusses possible novel research avenues that desert microbial ecologist could follow in the context of climate change.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In 1903, when Captain Scott first discovered the Dry Valleys in Antarctica, he wrote “It is worthy to record, too, that we have seen no living thing, not even a moss or a lichen; all that we did find, far inland amongst the moraine heaps, was the skeleton of a Weddell seal, and how that came there is beyond guessing. It is certainly a valley of the dead; even the great glacier which once pushed through it has withered away” (Scott 1907). Yet this Mars-like environment unarguably harbors diverse and active microbial communities (e.g., Lee et al. 2012; Chan et al. 2013; Ortiz et al. 2020; Canini et al. 2021; Chap. 10).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Jean-Baptiste Ramond

  2. Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Jean-Baptiste Ramond & Don A. Cowan

Authors
  1. Jean-Baptiste Ramond
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  2. Don A. Cowan
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Correspondence to Jean-Baptiste Ramond .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Jean-Baptiste Ramond

  2. Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics - Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Don A. Cowan

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Ramond, JB., Cowan, D.A. (2022). Hot Desert Microbiology: Perspectives in a Warming World. In: Ramond, JB., Cowan, D.A. (eds) Microbiology of Hot Deserts. Ecological Studies, vol 244. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98415-1_12

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